


Penny for your tooth?

by smallorbits



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-14
Updated: 2012-12-14
Packaged: 2018-08-11 02:10:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7871632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallorbits/pseuds/smallorbits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Baekhyun is a tooth fairy out to get Chanyeol's teeth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Penny for your tooth?

  
  
The first time Baekhyun meets Chanyeol he falls in love. So sturdy and strong, so lean and healthy, so hard...  
  
Chanyeol's teeth. Baekhyun falls in love with Chanyeol's teeth.  
  
It's just one of those occupational hazards to consider when you are Byun Baekhyun, the 36th tooth fairy of Seoul.  
  
  
  
  
Baekhyun is tucking a baby incisor tooth into the pouch he keeps strapped around his waist when a loud whistling fills the room. He doesn't even flinch, because there's nothing to be worried about. He can't be seen by adults (those poor lost souls have stopped believing), and his fairy senses tingle when a child is in the vicinity. Something about the baby teeth still in their mouths sets off his radar, and he feels no excitement right now.  
  
So it comes as a surprise when Baekhyun wriggles out from beneath the fluffy pillow and all he sees is a peachy blur, which momentarily confuses him. Then the blur moves, and Baekhyun is sent flying off the bed, onto the unforgiving ground.  
  
The impact is cushioned by the carpet and he manages to flap his wings a few times to gain traction but not soon enough and god dammit it hurts!  
  
"What are you doing in my brother's room?" booms the human, his attacker, and Baekhyun winces at the deep voice before he manages to bring the face in front of him into focus. Large curious eyes stare at him unblinkingly, peeking out beneath honey coloured straight bangs. Baekhyun hasn't seen enough humans to judge (he usually deals with those under the age of 10, and even then, when they're asleep) but he estimates the boy to be around 18, definitely old enough to have stopped believing. The boy breaks his stare to look down at his fingers, which he wriggles, and he smiles apologetically at Baekhyun. "Sorry I flicked you. I thought you were a fly."  
  
"You see me." Baekhyun gapes at the worried human in front of him, side stepping the insult of being mistaken for a fly. He thumps his chest a few times to check if this is reality, and even pinches his wing for good measure. "You see. Me?"  
  
"Uh, yes." The boy looks incredulous, like he's questioning why he's currently crouched on the ground whispering to a figment of his imagination. "About three inches tall. Silvery wings. Navy leotard and baby blue tights?" He holds his fingers out to indicate an approximate height and wow, what large hands. If the boy decides to just close those fingers around Baekhyun, his wings would be crushed in an instant.  
  
Baekhyun cocks his head, mind running too fast to even process the situation, or register the danger that he is in. "But you shouldn't see me not unless you still have baby teeth-"  
  
And then Baekhyun sees it, the beautiful row of pearly whites, so big and enticing. Baekhyun just wants to run his hands across those teeth, maybe rub his cheeks against them...  
  
  
  
  
"Wow, you are so pretty," the boy breathes out in awe, completely skipping the part where he screams and shouts and makes a fuss because humans were taught that fairies are mythical beings, and here lies a fairy in the flesh! Then he grins, exposing more of his teeth and Baekhyun almost wants to cry at the perfection. "Hi, I am Chanyeol!" He holds out a finger, like he's expecting Baekhyun to actually shake it.  
  
Baekhyun jolts out of his teeth fantasies because this is a human! Fairies are supposed to avoid humans at all cost. Just think about what happened to Tinkerbell! She’s a horror story to the faerie folk everywhere.  
  
With an "Eep!", Baekhyun shakes his shoulders to dust off his wings, and takes flight, wings flapping harder to avoid Chanyeol's grabby hands. His mind is clouded in a haze of panic and he remembers the way back to the portal in the garden only through his instincts.  
  
"Bye, fairy!" Chanyeol calls after him cheerfully, waving as if this was just another ordinary day.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
There's something quite magical about teeth. It's the part of the human body that is the most distinctive in the long run, and the dentine stays even after bones disintegrate, an unshakable reminder of a person's identity. Change as you may, your teeth remains intact. Baekhyun thinks that it's a good metaphor for life. You might try to change who you are, but your inner core will always remain constant. Or something. He would compose an ode to teeth, but there are too many pennies to hand out to really sit down with a pen.  
  
Chanyeol's teeth stays on his mind all day.  
  
Baekhyun almost forgets to slip the penny under the pillow of a 6 year old girl after he pockets her front tooth, and actually lets himself be seen by another kid's pet chihuahua. He barely escapes with his wings in one piece from that incident.  
  
It's only when he gets an angry note from the Ministry of the Fairy Association complaining about crying kids that never got their pennies that he realizes he has to do something with his obsession. It's disturbing his work, and in his 5 years of service, Baekhyun has never missed a single collection until now. Byun Baekhyun has spectacular work ethics, and he can't let his perfect record break.  
  
It is with much resolve that he decides, he simply must have park Chanyeol's teeth.  
  
And so, even though the ministry voices their disapproval, he applies for a week's leave and flies off to a tiny apartment located in Bucheon.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The next morning, Chanyeol wakes up, gets out of bed and promptly walks into a wall.  
  
Chanyeol laughs and rubs his forehead, where a bruise is blossoming. “Wow, bed, why did you move in the middle of the night?” If it were any other person, they'll be wondering why their bed is suddenly pushed against the wall when it used to be situated in the middle of the room. But it’s _Chanyeol_ , so.  
  
He taps his front teeth good-heartedly and chuckles, “Almost lost a tooth there.” Then he pushes his bed to its original spot and whistles a happy tunes as he saunters off to brush his teeth.  
  
Frustrated, Baekhyun peeks out of the shirt pocket that he hid himself in and punches the air with a fist. “Fiddlesticks!”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Baekhyun falls asleep in Chanyeol's closet thinking about molars and wakes up screaming from a nightmare of cavities eating through his precious collection.  
  
“Halloween should be outlawed,” he whispers furiously, shuddering at the thought of young children eating their way through too much candy and preservatives.  
  
It’s how he gets his next idea.  
  
Chanyeol returns home after class and his eyes are drawn to the bowl sitting on his bedside table. “Ooo! Candy apples!”  
  
Yes. Delicious candy apples. Dipped in caramel and maybe fortified with a hint of cement.  
  
Not questioning the sudden appearance of the bowl in his room, Chanyeol picks up a particularly red apple and gives it a tentative lick. He hesitates, and Baekhyun finds himself forgetting to breathe in his anticipation. The apple makes it halfway into his mouth before Chanyeol pulls it out again. Chanyeol scrunches up his nose and frowns to himself. "Didn't coach say that I had to cut down on sugar?" Giving the candy apple one last lingering lick, Chanyeol pouts at the apple and sadly sets it back down into the bowl.  
  
Baekhyun slides down into the laundry basket he was hanging off on and mopes to himself among a load of lint. It’s then that he remembers that he saw Chanyeol wearing the shirt that he is currently huddled in yesterday. And the day before. And last week, in fact.  
  
Chanyeol’s head pops out of the mouth of the shirt he's taking off and wonders to himself, “Did I just hear a rat squeaking?”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
When Baekhyun decides to venture out of Chanyeol's room and follow Chanyeol into the scary human world, he discovers that Chanyeol, despite his perpetual clumsiness and awkward limbs, is in the campus basketball team.  
  
Within ten minutes, Baekhyun discovers that he really doesn't need to do anything to sabotage Chanyeol. Chanyeol is very good at sabotaging himself. He is, in short, a walking human disaster. By half time, Chanyeol has smacked himself in the face with a ball, hit an opposing team player in the chest with an errant arm and somehow accidentally kneed his team captain in the groins.  
  
If Baekhyun didn't notice the soft looks that team captain Kris shoots Chanyeol, it would've been a mystery why Chanyeol is even allowed to play at all. All protests by teammate Jongin to kick Chanyeol out of the team are silenced immediately by a death glare sent his way by Kris.  
  
"Fuck, Chanyeol, the ball goes _in_ the hoop not over it!"  
  
"Kim Jongin, ten laps around the court!"  
  
"But-"  
  
Chanyeol remains blissfully oblivious and proceeds to run smack into the water cooler.  
  
It is all very fascinating, especially when Baekhyun secretly ties Chanyeol's shoelaces together while the boy is taking a break on the benches, and Chanyeol trips, right into Kris's arms. Baekhyun would have cursed Kris for ruining his grand plan, but the amusement of seeing stoic Kris blush like a school girl is enough to have him forgiven.  
  
It turns out that Chanyeol tripping over nothing is a regular occurrence. His teeth miraculously stay in his mouth. Baekhyun needs a new plan.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
It's a last ditch attempt, really.  
  
Baekhyun thinks of this as an expedition. An expedition up Chanyeol's face, and it's really a shame that he's letting his dainty fairy feet step all over that pretty face, but a fairy's got to do what a fairy's got to do. Tying the floss around the bed post with a tight knot, he gingerly jumps down to the bed, landing on the pillow soundlessly. The plan is simple. Step one, tie floss to Chanyeol's incisor. Step two, tie floss around door knob. Step three, slam door and sneak away with tooth before Chanyeol wakes up. It's a fool proof plan he got from watching human television programs and it worked onscreen, so he's got this covered. What could possibly go wrong?  
  
Carefully, Baekhyun hikes the roll of floss around his shoulder up higher and creeps closer to Chanyeol's head, wings beating softly as to not wake the sleeping boy up. Suddenly, Chanyeol's eyes flick open and Baekhyun is so startled that he falls off Chanyeol's face, forgetting for a brief moment that he can fly.  
  
He's dangling off the floss and trying to scale Chanyeol's big ears when Chanyeol lets out a snore loud enough that Baekhyun is swayed by the vibrations of the bass.  
  
Baekhyun freezes mid-climb, accidentally lets go of the floss and for the second time in a week, crashes straight to the ground. And this is how he discovers that Chanyeol sleeps with his eyes open.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Chanyeol leans against the railing of the hallway, excitedly chattering into his phone. "Kris! Kris! Kris! What do you mean you don't want to see me! Kris! I'm sorry I forgot?" From what Baekhyun can pick up, it seems that Kris is less than pleased that Chanyeol forgot their plans for pizza yesterday because the younger boy got side tracked by a litter of kittens.  
  
Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol's back, down at his own hands, and at the flight of stairs leading to the first floor.  
  
No, he simply can't- _won't_ do it. He wants those teeth, but he doesn't want Chanyeol _dead_. He has to think about other less deadly means. Dejected, he drops to the floor and punishes himself by walking back to Chanyeol's room.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The past week has drained Baekhyun. His fairy dust is dwindling, he is no closer to landing his hands on his prized treasure and his one track mind has kept him up all night, images of Chanyeol's canines filling his head.  
  
What else can he do? What hasn't he tried?  
  
Baekhyun is so tired and frustrated that he falls asleep on Chanyeol's chemistry textbooks, pulling a page across his body like a blanket. He doesn't stir when Chanyeol comes back from school. He doesn't even wake when Chanyeol quietly slips a tiny metal ring on Baekhyun's index finger.  
  
  
  
  
Baekhyun wakes up feeling well rested for the first time in weeks. The crick in his neck is gone, his wings don’t feel flaky anymore, and most of all, his body has stopped hurting from the multiple tumbles that he took. Maybe his mission for the perfect tooth can be put off just for a bit. Right now he just wants to snuggle into his sheets and never-  
  
Wait, sheets?  
  
Baekhyun lets out a shriek and tumbles out of bed.  
  
"Good morning!' Chanyeol cheers. He smiles from the edge of the bed where he is sitting cross legged and holds up a hand in greeting. “Slept well?”  
  
Baekhun clambers back onto the bed and hides under the blankets, just because he _can_ climb onto the bed. He's actually tall enough to _reach the bed_. It takes a moment or two of Baekhyun staring at his limbs before everything slowly sinks in. "Why am I human-sized?" His voice is filled with not shock, but wonder, because after a century of being bite sized, it is good to be large for once. He very deliberately ignores the fact that Chanyeol will still tower over him.  
  
"Elven magic!" Chanyeol twist the ring around his finger and points the identical ring snug around Baekhyun's finger. The ring is a simple black metal band with a carved hexagon design, and Baekhyun struggles to place the symbol because it’s so awfully familiar.  
  
Baekhyun stares down at his ring and up at Chanyeol. He almost falls off the bed again when he realizes the implications of Chanyeol's statement. Now he remembers what the symbol is. It’s the family crest of the prestigious EXO clan, the highest ranking Elves in the Isles. Rumour has it that the EXO clan possesses magic beyond what any other magic being can achieve, after a pact made with the Tree of Life eons ago. "You're part Elf?"  
  
"I thought it was obvious." Chanyeol's hands fly up to tug at his huge ears that are slightly pointy at the end, a detail that Baekhyun somehow missed. "Don't you see my ears?"  
  
Well, that explains why Chanyeol can see him.  
  
Chanyeol is kind enough to give Baekhyun a few minutes to marvel over his new stature before he says, “I know you’ve been after my teeth.”  
  
Baekhyun has the decency to bite his lip sheepishly. “I don’t mean-“  
  
“You can explore my teeth all you want.” Chanyeol pauses and leers. “With your tongue.”  
  
After Baekhyun punches Chanyeol hard enough to well, dislocate a tooth, he thinks that maybe it isn’t such a bad idea after all.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Kim Minseok, the 37th tooth fairy of seoul, stares down at the outfit laid out in front of him doubtfully. "But are you sure I need to wear this tutu?" He picks up the pink, frilly outfit carefully and holds it at arm's length, trying to the picture the tutu on his own body. It's a scary thought.  
  
Baekhyun nods eagerly and tries to stop the smirk from taking over his face. "Yes, mandatory requirements! Have you ever seen a tooth fairy without a tutu?"  
  
It's both a hilarious and unfortunate thing that Minseok is a gullible fairy.  
  
  
  
_end._  
  
---


End file.
